Picture this: a 2,000-word grievance lands in your inbox, bristling with legal phrases and suspiciously polished grammar. Your employee has just discovered artificial intelligence (AI).
In all sectors, managers are increasingly seeing grievances that resemble tribunal pleadings more than workplace complaints. AI tools can draft articulate, emotionally neutral documents in minutes. That can make genuine issues easier to read, but also much harder to sift through, interpret, and investigate.
What’s the problem?
AI results in more grievances, longer texts, and increased use of pseudo-legal language. Expect an increase in copy-paste allegations, inconsistent facts, and irrelevant detail.
For social care, where managers may face high emotional loads and low administrative support, this could add significant strain. In professional services, it risks muddying complex interpersonal disputes with synthetic clarity that hides real tensions.
What are the risks?
Responses missing the real issue.
Data breaches when employees paste sensitive content into public AI tools.
False allegations copied from AI text.
Over-reliance on AI summaries by managers.
Inconsistent handling that undermines fairness or trust.
What should you do?
- Triage quickly but calmly. Acknowledge receipt within 24 hours and check for any urgent safeguarding or data issues.
- Identify the problem. Strip out filler and pseudo-legal language to identify the genuine grievance points.
- Stay human. Whenever possible, meet the employee before deciding on the scope or next steps.
- Document your approach. Note that the text may be AI-generated but focus on the content not the author.
- Review policy. Update grievance and AI-use policies to reflect expectations and confidentiality rules.
- Train managers. Teach them to spot patterns of AI use and respond proportionately.
So, what should you say?
‘Thanks for submitting your grievance. Before we move forward, I’d like to clarify a few points to make sure we deal with everything properly. Could you summarise the main issue in your own words and tell me what outcome you are seeking? We will use that to plan next steps in line with our policy.’
Encourage employees to express their grievances in their own words. Even if they use AI tools to assist drafting, they remain responsible for the accuracy, tone and content of their grievance. Coach managers to focus on substance over style when assessing such grievances.
What are the takeaways?
A Recognise AI-drafted text by tone, structure and length.
B Acknowledge promptly and clarify intent in person if possible.
C Protect confidentiality and data. Do not upload grievance content to AI.
D Train line managers on proportionate responses.
E Keep notes.
Could your grievance process cope if robots wrote half of your complaints?
